Tuesday, February 4, 2014

I’m going to attempt to describe my week at GoodspeedMusicals as part of the Johnny Mercer Foundation’s Writers Colony. It’s hard to
put into words, because it comprises a lot of things; emotions, dreams,
energies, talents and surprises coming together in what was one of the more
magical weeks of my life.

Something you need to understand about my life, dear reader,
is that it just doesn’t stop. I’ve 7 rotating freelance jobs. The largest and
foremost of these is of course as an acclaimed author of Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels
such as the Strangely Beautiful saga, my recent Magic Most Foul saga and my
forthcoming Eterna Files saga from Tor/Forge as well as a bunch of recently
released and forthcoming anthologies. My various other jobs are as a floor director
for a small television studio in Manhattan, a background extra
and/or stand-in on shows like Boardwalk Empire, a private tour guide, an artist’s assistant, a workshop presenter/teacher/public speaker, and last but certainly not least, the book (script) writer
for the musical adaptation of my debut novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker.

As you can imagine, with seven rotating jobs, a husband, a
bunny, Family, dear friends, co-running Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC, singing
soprano in church choir, busy isn’t the half of it. And I love it all. But I
don’t get the chance to just be one thing and focus solely on one project or
task.

But beautifully, Goodspeed let me be just one thing for one rare
week: The book writer of a musical. Strangely Beautiful the musical was invited
onto the incredible Goodspeed campus in East Haddam, CT for one uninterrupted
week in immaculate artist housing in a charming neighborhood interwoven with
gorgeous 19th century architecture. I was in heaven. I was
surrounded by very talented peers. (Check out this Broadway World press release
to see my incredible company. As you can see, those invited have racked up tons of awards and accolades, that Prism Award listing is mine. ;) ) My team of Nicholas Roman Lewis (Music &
Lyrics) and Kenny Seymour (Music & Lyrics) and yours truly had a large
house all to ourselves with a wide living room and a piano and a whole week to
think and dream and finish our show, getting it ready for the next step;
putting it on its feet for a full workshop production.

We were joined by adept dramaturge “Uncle Lee”, Clifford Lee Johnson III of Manhattan Theatre Club fame, who was our guardian angel through the week
guiding our morning check-ins over coffee and bagels and our evening
presentations of whatever we’d been working on that we wanted to share with our
peers to collect feedback. He spoke with my team early in the week and
gave us really useful insights, several of which led to my entirely
restructuring act 2 in a fit of streamlining and simplifying for the purposes
of tightening dramatic effect; showing a moment rather than telling it, always a helpful fix, and the show is better for it.

I went into the week unsure about how I would be received,
as my literary resume favours being a novelist over that of being a musical
book writer / playwright, but theatre is where I began, a BFA in performance
was my degree and my first professional venture, and plays and adaptations of
19th century literary work were my first publications and
professional presentations. I spent the first 8 years out of college working
the regional theatre circuit as a professional actress and tinkering around
with one act plays that garnered acclaim in various festivals about the
country. So I know theatre, it’s in my blood. My novels are very theatrical.
Still, that does not automatically make a script writer for a musical. However,
I’ve a talent for adaptation and I know my characters better than I sometimes
know myself and I have no issues with changing up the logistics of the story
entirely to make it work for the stage. That’s the key: flexibility and willingness
to see other alternative ways to tell the same kind of story but in a different
medium. Willingness to cut favourite bits, favourite characters, emotional
moments and plot threads. A musical is a distillation. And I’ve been loving the
process of making a new sculpture out of the clay of my series.

My peers throughout the week at Goodspeed were so incredibly
generous with their thoughts, kind, and crazy, crazy talented. The staff at
Goodspeed were all delightful and similarly helpful. The focus and the level of
professionalism was second to none.

Here were a few of my favourite things:

1. Getting a chance to be Percy for a week. In the evenings
we presented some of our work to our fellow writers and creators and my team
and I traded off songs and parts but I got to be Percy, my dear girl, my
favourite character I’ve ever written (shh, don’t tell the others!) and just
live in her odd skin for a while and bring her to life for other creative
professionals. I’ll not play her in the show (come on, folks, if the novelist
AND the script writer also plays the lead gal it looks a little bit like a
vanity project and that’s not what we want), so this delighted the actress
that still thrives within me. I do miss performing and will accept opportunities when something comes my way, however none can come in the way of my novels. My books must remain the star of my life. But this particular indulgence was such a treat.

2. Hearing new songs come to life before my very eyes and
ears. Nothing so magical as that first brush with new creation.

3. Getting entirely snowed in. This helped focus. And it became like a magical snowy fairyland.

4. Everything I mentioned about how beautiful the campus and
the people of Goodspeed were.

6. On the last evening, a literal (drunken) horde of writers
and musical directors from two different programs converging on one house and
performing a rousing (it was horrible), howling rendition of One Day More and
Lily’s Eyes in which the musical directors applauded every key change.

8. Sitting at the table or piano day after day with my team
and making the bones of a show really start to sing, literally and
figuratively.

9. The Goodspeed Opera House was built in 1876. My era. My
people.

10. Did I mention how much I enjoyed the people I worked
with? Goodness do I love talent and do I love when it all comes together and
you can see that talent making collectively better and better art day by day. There’s nothing so
enlivening as that, and Goodspeed was the perfect setting to revel in that
for a week. Can you tell I’m in withdrawal?

For the books the musical is based on, the books are
currently out of print but not for long. In the meantime, check your local
library and hang tight until Tor / Forge re-issues all of them in brand new,
revised, shiny, exciting, refreshed editions! Strangely Beautiful characters do show up in The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart, as all my series have crossover characters!

Cheers and happy haunting!
﻿

Gorgeous Goodspeed Opera House

The charming Goodspeed campus

﻿

A picturesque snowfall, perfect for a writer retreat!

Unaware of a photo being taken, Kenny explains to me the Exorcism underscoring. I appear appropriately intense.

ETERNA AND OMEGA (Eterna Files 2)

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About Me

Actress, playwright and award winning, Barnes & Noble bestselling author of the STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL, the MAGIC MOST FOUL and the ETERNA FILES series of Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels for adults and teens. Her books have been translated into many languages and chosen for multiple book club editions. Four time Prism Award winner for excellence in her genre. Actress (Member AEA, SAG-AFTRA), lifelong Perky Goth, vegetarian, devotee of all things 19th century, owner of more corsets than is sensible, loves nothing more than a good ghost story (she works for Boroughs of the Dead tour company) and a long stroll through a beautiful graveyard. Passionate advocate of Gothic Literature at conventions, symposiums and schools around the country. A proud member of performer unions AEA and SAG-AFTRA, she works often in film and television on shows such as Boardwalk Empire.
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"Leanna Renee Hieber rules with an iron fist and a tiny black hat." - author Sam Sykes

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